Human Rights - Theory & Practice

"In armed conflicts since 1945, 90 percent of casualties have been
civilians compared to 50 percent in the Second World War and 10 percent in the
First...

Governments and national leaders are often the most horrific
perpetrators of violence. Torture occurs in more than 100 countries and is
carried out as part of government policy in at least 40. And governments form a crucial
part of the military industrial complex that is responsible for churning out the weapons
and methods of war.

The United States is the world's biggest arms exporter - and
supplies around 40 percent of the developing world's arms. Its military budget is
as large as the next ten top spending countries combined. Its troop strength is 2.4
million. It is involved in escalating numerous conflicts outside its own borders, and on
average the US has used arms abroad every year for the past 200 years. Its current
rationale for high spending on defence includes declaration of 'war on terrorism'. Since
1980, on average, fewer than 10 Americans have been killed by terrorists per year.

Britain is the world's second largest arms exporter with
a 25 per cent share of the legal global export market. Its military budget is the fifth
largest in the world, with a troop strength of 240,000. Between 1990 and 1994, it supplied
13 percent of the total arms exports to sub-Saharan Africa - while at war from 1987 to
1994, Angola received $7.3 billion worth of British arms."

Meanwhile Reuters reported on 25 March 1999:

"Britain on Thursday released its first annual report on arms exports
in line with the government's pledge not to sell guns to regimes that may use them for
repression.

The report detailed exports licenses granted by the government between May 1997, when it
took power, and the end of that year....

Pressure groups such as Saferworld say Britain still sells arms to countries with
blemished human rights records.... "The committees should, therefore, raise questions
about exports of small arms to countries with poor human
rights records, such as Bahrain, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Zimbabwe.''

The government figures showed it signed 19 standard individual export licences for arms
sales to Bahrain in its first eight months in power, 47 to Sri Lanka, 111
to Turkey and 30 to Zimbabwe...."